Norton Northfield Mayoral Campaign
D’Andre Norton'' will be running for Mayor of the City of Northfield Minnesota in the 2040 City Council Mayoral Election. He will be seeking to unseat incumbent Mayor __________ . About D’Andre Norton D’Andre Dwayne Norton is a equal rights motivational speaker from Minnesota along with being a supporter of the Minnesota DFL political party which is an affiliation of the National Democratic Party. Norton is a Northfield native and looks to heavily advocate for all aspects of equality and respect. He is a former Northfield Public Safety Explorer and has spent a few hundred hours of voluntary service working within the Northfield Public Schools elementary fall plus and summer school programs. On March 18, 2017, D’Andre came out as bisexual to his online Instagram social media profile and as of 9-30-19, he began dating 15 year old sophomore Jalynn Lopshire. He also has a 25 year old half brother and 14 year old sister. Both of his parents are Billy Norton (dad) and Kim Wermerskirchen (Norton) (mom). As time progresses, Norton looks to achieve success helping there succeed and be a positive leader. Political Views & Agendas '''Community Jobs & Opportunities “Northfield has amazing locations and beautiful scenery that even all Minnesotans can love. However, numerous people across the country struggle to find jobs & or programs to be apart of. These issues even correlate with Minnesotans. Northfield has a very diverse community filled with many ethnicities & cultural backgrounds which help make the city remarkable. Numerous individuals in the community may struggle with poverty and or the ability to be employed. Jobs should be welcoming for all and people of low incomes as well deserve these opportunities. Propaganda and promotion signs/posters should be spread across Northfield and highly noticeable if not already done so. Households with low incomes deserve to be helped and deserve fair opportunities. The Food Shelf including the Northfield Community Action Center (CAC) are an amazing example of that. The CAC provides multiple youth/adults programs to be apart of and promote job opportunities that also involve community work. The Food Shelf has a variety of donated food under two programs and gives food to people who may be unable to get the food they need or anyone in need of free food. This also includes non-food items such as cleaning supplies and etc. Each Thursday the public is welcomed for a hot and healthy meal in the Northfield Community Resource Center’s dining room during 5:00pm-6:30pm. All are welcome to all Northfield residents regardless of ethnic backgrounds or home income. These opportunities should be widely spreaded and better more promoted across the city by the recommendations I’ve made. All are deserving. Our community and state need more of these organizations to help those in indeed. Tons either starve to death, struggle with poverty and need as much support as possible. It is up to the help of the people.” Equality/LGBTQ ”I believe in fairness and equality for all people regardless of appearance, family background, ethnicity and or sexual orientation. Every human is equal and should be treated that way with pure respect. Need for a New High School “For decades the city of Northfield’s high school building has been standing. The building is an ancient piece of art for Northfield’s city. However, this building has many flaws and not so pleasant things regarding the school. There are many wall structures within the school that are becoming weaker. Especially the schools bathrooms. There are some parts that are either severely bruised/dented, scratched up, dirty, rusted, and have an unpleasant appearance. Many parts of the school are heavily unsanitary. The building continues to age and needs the features of increasing inventions, new wall structures, technology and security based creations. There is almost no way to completely fix every single error and or issue with the current high schools building. One major issue is building space including the hallway and cafeteria space. A majority of the hallways are crowded when bells ring and both cafeterias can be heavily packed during lunch (flex) time. There are over 1300 students and 80 faculty members in a small school. The school has fascinating locations and amazing outdoor scenery. The school has high skilled education and staff. Therefore, it may be time to build a bigger and more easy flowing school. Especially since there is a 100% guarantee of there being a new Greenville Park Elementary School being built in the near future. It may cost a high amount of money, but it is certainly a good idea to invest on this unique high school building project especially regarding on how many students and faculty attend NHS.” Road Construction “Northfield is a city of roughly 20,500 residents located in Minnesota. The city was officially incorporated in 1856. The paved roads have existed for decades, many of these public roads have been repaired/repaved in recent years and the last decade or so. However, there are many public transportation roads areas that have numerous potholes, cracks, bumps, unpainted markings, littered garbage, etc. These even include numerous crosswalks and even public sidewalks. All drivers and or citizens should know the fact of how dangerous these risk factors are for the community which even includes the entire state of Minnesota as well. The majority of these factors can damage vehicular parts and or distract the driver/individual all together. One of the worst cases being is a head on traffic collision with another vehicle(s) or collision with pedestrians and in worst of cases, both. All caused by an individual(s) running over a bump, pothole and or cracks in the road. Even people who don’t drive a motorized vehicle can still be affected (bicyclists, walkers, etc). These areas need to be repaired and paved for the safety of drivers and citizens who utilize these areas daily.” School Safety “Having a better education system that helps make all benefit from it. Education in Minnesota or around the United States I should say is if not one of the most talked about topics in the world today. Starting off with my home state Minnesota I’d rather start here and work my way around. One huge issue is school safety and security in public or private schools. If possible I want a majority of schools across the state including all public, private, and college based schools to have better security equipment. I believe every school that does not have any of these features should definitely invest in doing so and purchase all if possible. Every school deserves to have secured entrance doors with enhanced locking. Every school deserves to have at least 1 security camera that at least covers all door accessible entry points. I think all classrooms or rooms with accessibility points such as a door for example deserves a more advanced locking device (better door locks). The biggest question of them all in my opinion or nation wide is should school staff such as teachers be authorized to conceal a firearm? This includes concealing a handgun during school hours for self defense or in any circumstance that involves a huge threat that even includes a school shooting commonly known as a public shooting. Now in my opinion that depends on many factors that do indeed include plenty of risks. If every teacher and staff member or maybe some in a school ranging from a school of let’s say 150 students all the way to a school of 3000 students that may cost a fairly high amount of money. This pretty muchincludes manufacturing, shipping, and purchasing costs all depend on the type of firearm as well. Another concern is the feelings of students which are if not most important.” Vaping & Substance Abuse ''' “Vaping amongst teens across the country is beyond unbelievable and terrifying. Most teens have been exposed to some form of vaping device or tobacco product throughout their lifetime. The scary part of it being that a majority of these teens are users themselves. It is hard to believe that Northfield itself has been starting to deal with this issue in recent years. A majority of these people are high school and middle school students. Another fact being is more than half of them vape during school which is not permitted. This breaks the violation of possessing and or consuming a tobacco product which is a guideline regarding the Northfield Public Schools Citizenship Handbook. = GOALS = # Eliminate in school vaping entirely if possible. # Have all parents and legal guardians confiscate (take away) vaping devices from their underage children if possible or if they possess these item(s). # Connecting and discussing these issues with city, county & state government officials along with discussing the importance to youth and adults by supporting one another to take care of this important task. # Working with local law enforcement and surrounding organizations including our state government to help ban vaping for underage users statewide. = SPECIFICATIONS = We the community have to find a way to stop this dangerous hobby that is literally ruining teen bodies and their well beings. Many families need to take part in stopping their loved ones from going down a path that’s going to harm them for the rest of their lives. There is no 100% guarantee of eliminating this hazardous threat, but with the support of as many as possible, we can take the steps to help neutralize this ongoing problem and save lives. = Why is it Important? = Teen Health Teens who use these products truly do not understand the effects of them. Many of these vape pen devices do carry nicotine which is nationally known as the most addictive substance in the country. Nicotine is harmful in many ways and is mostly known to cause lung and brain cancer caused by tobacco based chemicals by (inhaling, absorbing, etc) which can destroy organ tissue in the body and cause a high tolerance for more and more. Nicotine and all the chemicals in these damage youth bodies, especially the undeveloped brain that doesn’t stop developing until around 25 years of age. Many substance users eventually develop health issues later on in life because of their youth choices. While many others have other conditions and harm because of using these products. It is crazy to think about what this nation has come to with vaping. Legal Aspects It is a federal law that all US citizens are required to be at least 18 years of age to purchase any form of tobacco products. However, many states choose to increase the age to 21. Many of these products include cigarettes, cigars, dip, and any product that carries tobacco chemicals. A well known chemical being nicotine. Most vape pens carry this or I should say, all. It is currently illegal in the State of Minnesota for any person under 18 to possess, purchase, and or consume any form of tobacco which does include vape devices and E-cigs. Selling cigarettes, E-cigs, and tobacco to minors is a criminal offense, usually a misdemeanor. Penalties may include fines ranging from $200 to $1,000, possible jail time of up to 90 days, revocation of license to sell cigarettes or tobacco products. Step up and support the cost. Be the one to say no to vaping and be the one to stop it.” Events Tyler Park (open field) | Northfield, Minnesota : Monday, January 2, 2040. - ''D’Andre Norton